.75 and 1.5 oz rip top nylon, that's all you need for kites and banners. Also, for banners you can use 200 denier banner cloth and actually anything you can get your hands on, unlike a kite you don't have to worry about bias.and mixed fabric stretching in one spot and ruining your symetry You can use taffeta along with r/s and banner cloth/oxford with no problems. Just know that there may be a problem with the durability of some fabrics compared to others. Also a good material to make kites out of is Tyvek. Tyvek can be sewn or glued and you can also paint on it without getting nuts having to steam or use lethal paints. also, there is no bias to worry about. You can also beat the hell out of Tyvek and repair, also re-enforce with strapping tape or scotch tape( stay away from duct tap ), this will also give you a heavier kite but no really big worries.

The ripstop nylon is not clothing grade though. The kind we use is from the sailing industry. It's been coated/impregnated with resins and such to make it stronger and more impervious to the wind.
Clothing style nylon feels soft in the hand and is stretchier, kite ripstop is crisp--if you fold it, it holds a crease almost like paper.

Some folks swear by ripstop polyester instead of nylon. It has less stretch. That's what's in a Revolution. Though I was flying Steve's EXP and it has a nylon sail and it felt great. I'm beginning to think a nylon sail might be good in the same way a vented is good. Nylon stretching a little may be more forgiving in gusty winds. There certainly didn't seem to be a downside to the nylon.

You Mom would be a good source of material for banners. Something UV resistant would be ideal, but isn't totally needed. Red always seems to fade anyway...
Clothing grade nylon is a little trickier to sew, but it would also probably be good for non-kite stuff such as ground bouncers/ bols and line laundry.

I think Grant has used lots of different materials, maybe he will chime in here.

denverberry wrote:Does Dave at Chicago Kite have a contact for ripstop or sailcloth? I'm going to have to call him tomorrow and bug him for a few minutes anyway, I'll ask him while I've got him on the horn.

We should all call him and ask the same thing at some point tomorrow...

Well I called Dave, and he says the only fabric he can get right now is in the $18 per yard range. I work for a living, so that's just a little out of what I can up for fabric. In fact, at that price, it'd still be less spendy to just buy the finished product!

You can find fabric cheaper depending on what you want.
If you're making a Rev, you won't save much if you want it to be the same quality as a Rev. That is, polyester ripstop and Rev spars. And don't even think about labor costs.
But if you enjoy the process and want to do something custom, then it can make sense to make your own. They wont fly quite the same as a real Rev, but good enough.

Talking about custom Revs, Dave was just telling me he can get the special edition red, white and blue custom Rev:
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.75 oz can be used for all kites.
1.5 isn't used that often.
.5 oz is used for ultra-lights.
If you're making a sport kite, then a dacron LE is pretty common, SLKs don't usually need it. I've also used 1.5oz nylon ripstop that I cut myself for the LE on lighter weight sport kites.
You can use the pre-slit dacron or cut it yourself.

Excelent info...!!! these guys are only 15 minutes away from where I live

I am gonna check them up next week. Thanks Mike...guys, like I said, you are not only talented but very informative too. I think I'm gonna save me a couple of bucks if everything goes right. I'll let you know.

Mike wrote:Let us know what they charge Hector. It used to be $5 or $6 a yard. Someone told me that they are now charging an additional "cutting" fee of $5, no matter how much you buy.

I sure will Mike, as soon as I get the info. Did you said $5 or $6 per yard? I was paying much more than that. I will definitly check them out.
Have you seen my kite in "GIF animator". I tried to send some info to you this morning but could not deliver. I'll try later.

I think I paid $7 a yard for .75 nylon ripstop from Texlon this year. I don't remember if there was cutting charges. I do remember I had to wait for them to generate end rolls before they'd cut my pieces, and yellow took awhile. I'm not sure what they sent was nylon ripstop on that yellow either. It's wrinkled something fierce, like it's a polyester which is $5 a yard.

I'm pretty committed to buying from Kite Studio now. I don't think they're any more, and the service can't be beat.

However, if I had access to Texlon locally, or anyone else, it'd be different. <hint>

As I said in another post, we use Texlon 3/4 oz ripstop nylon to make our quads or to modify Revs. The last we bought was over a year ago and around $5 per yard. We heard from another kite maker that they now charge a $5 per color cutting fee, but if you order several yards of a color it's still the best deal in town.
We call Martha at Texlon on one day and pick up our order the next. They are at 555 Van Ness Ave, Torrance, CA. 90501 866 624 3999 310 328 5999 8-4 M-F
Don't know if they ship.